soul in the furnace
by Ari and the Kool Kidz Gang
Summary: Amira reached for the volume wheel on the stereo before Max II smacked it away violently. "I have two rules, and you and Superboy, Cornbread edition, are breaking both of them. We never. Ever. Turn down Beyoncé." Omega narrowed his eyes as he tried to figure out whether she was joking. "Touch the volume again and I'll set the Ari on you." /Bruh I'm gonna warn you now, they swear.


"You're not gonna be her babysitter, Omega. You're just keeping track of her, Omega. She's not gonna run off, Omega." The soft mumbling could be heard in between the grunts as Omega pulled himself through the vents on his elbows, several turns behind Max II who was apparently part snake, considering how easily she was slipping through the metal shafts. "We don't even _need_ to be in the vents," he hissed, hoping she could still hear him. "They know we're here. They basically invited us." There was a heavy rumbling ahead and he heard the noise that obviously meant she was coming back towards him.

He paused to wait for her and in under a minute she was back in front of his, getting far too close to pressing her nose against him, just because he hated it.

"I know we don't _have_ to go through the vents Megs," Her face was just as dead as his was, but he could just _tell_ that she was trying to piss him off. "I just know that you can't show up without me, and I would hate a chance to make you _walk_ all the way there."

"Honestly, fuck you." Omega put his heavy hand on Max II's face and pushed her back away. "I just wanted to get there." She snorted and wriggled her way to turn around and pushed on, this time stopping to wait for Omega, just to kick him gently in the face. By the time she sent herself tumbling through a grate, Omega believed he was about twelve seconds from killing her.

But he lowered himself down after her and tugged at the collar of the skintight suit they'd forced him into. Max II's was similar, but she kept hers zipped to just under her chin. Omega opted for the unzipped to just below the collarbones kind of look. Max II looked him up and down before snickering again.

"Is your girlfriend coming today? You've let some things go since last time we saw her." She teased, reaching out to zip it up the rest of the way. Omega instantly swatted away her hand, but fiddled with the zipper slightly. His girlfriend _was_ coming today. And he wanted her to see that he was in fact keeping it… together, while she was off with Ari on their Big Top Secret Mission to kill the bird kids part whatever the fuck.

"Just once, Max II, shut up and mind your own business." Omega ruffled his hair once more before pulling the door open and tugging it back after, trying to make it just a little harder before stopping immediately in front of it. There were only about 20 people in the room, but to Omega it was still kind of stunning that he could find Amira immediately. Max II stepped around him to bolt towards her friends, but Omega looked at Amira for another few seconds before she turned around and finally caught sight of him. Omega sent a slight wave her way and she started edging her way around the table to stand next to him.

"'Mira, you know you're not allowed to stand near me for long," Using the skill he'd long since perfected, Omega kept his face impassive, but his tone gave away the slight playfulness, he only rarely allowed to be displayed visibly. "You wash me out. Make me look more Wonderbread than Wonder Boy."

His eyes softened ever so slightly as she giggled, trying to contain her happiness at seeing him for the first time in a month and a half.

"I think you can deal for just a minute." She wasn't even half as good at hiding her emotions, grinning at him brightly which almost broke down his facade. Her pink scarf that she'd wrapped carefully around her head, made her skin look especially warm, and her general softness was forcing Omega to realize just how much he'd missed her. Of course, behind all the bubbly happiness was someone who was created specifically to track and kill people like him and the original bird kids. "I missed you." This was much quieter, and even though she seemed just as bright as always, her eyes betrayed her, squinting slightly as she searched for a reaction.

"I noticed you were gone." He'd meant to say 'I missed you too Ama,' but this was… close enough? Not good. But close enough. "I got you a scarf from France. I mean, I stole it. But I stole it for you to wear. It was like really expensive and I thought you might like it, because it's got like moon looking things all over it, and I thought you might have one kind of like it, but not like… exactly it. So I got it for you."

Amira blinked quickly as he breathed all his words, but still her smile grew as he rambled. Nothing he said was particularly romantic or exciting, so Omega didn't understand what she was so happy about, but it made him not unhappy that she was smiling still. Of course there were only a few more seconds before some of the suited men and women split them up to sit near them so the meeting could start. To Omega's disappointment Amira ended up on the other side of the table, slammed in between Ari and Max II. Every so often when he thought no one was looking at him, Ari would send a kissy face Omega's way. Always just a second before everyone shifted their gaze back to Wonderboy and Omega was left to suffer without even being able to flip him off in return.

So he settled for glaring a little harsher than usual at the kid and settling back into his chair, leaning back and trying to see if he could reach Ari's shins. He couldn't.

Amira fixed it though. Just by giving her kind of a half smile, and occasionally pulling a heavy face, before closing her eyes. Omega was getting unacceptably soft. 30 minutes until they could be alone in the city. Alone with Ari and Max II. Basically it was gonna suck. But it was gonna suck way less than sitting in a board room.

Omega checked out again. No one was gonna ask for his opinion, or his report on how shitty Max II was at Just Dance 3. Ari talked at some point. Bird kids still alive, Ari not yet dead, Amira, ready to kill Fang, Fang hitting on Amira in California, Fang describing Amira to Iggy under his breath, Fang getting punched in the face by a RoboCopWolfThing, Ari recording it on his phone. Ari got in trouble for getting off topic, and sat back down probably three minutes after he got up in the first place, and Omega still had no idea exactly what they'd been doing.

But in the next 15 minutes he did learn that Amira was essentially Ari's Favorite Pillow next to Max II, as the seven-year-old-twenty-year-old leaned in between his kinda half sister and his "mother's-cousin's-cousin's-sister's-father's-niece-twice-removed-or-something-probably" as Ari and Amira liked to joke sometimes. That, and the eraser was like, constantly asleep. But that he knew because Max II had mumbled something about it. Max II acted like Omega didn't have super hearing. Not Ari good, but like, soccer mom good.

The only good part of the meeting really, was watching Max II physically turn her nose up, pressing her finger against the tip and snorting slightly at every presentation that took a more formal approach than starting out with,

"Listen, okay, wait… Okay I'm sorry. Ready now. Wait, alright dudes." Which was the well thought out opening that belonged to her best friend.

But slowly, after a 45 minute meeting turned into a two and a half hour meeting, which was expected, room full of overachievers trying to kiss each other's ass, they finally allowed the kids to file out of the room. Ari pulled Amira out first, sliding out as best they could behind some stuffy looking nerds, and Omega just blatantly walked through a conversation with Max II trailing behind him.

As soon as she was out, Max II bolted to tackle Ari's back, going face first into his spine and sending him straight to the linoleum floor. Omega took a subtler approach to greeting Amira, standing about ten feet away from her, and waving slightly. She seemed to appreciate it a little more.

"So. Are you guys headed home?" Omega pulled Max II off Ari by her arm and tried to pull her upright, only starting to strain when Max II went limp. "Because me and Amira could really use a ride." Well, Omega could use a ride. Pretty much anyone else would be fine. But far be it from him to stop anyone from riding in an air-conditioned car. That's an experience everyone should have.

"I'm driving to the… home. Ama is gonna go solo actually," Ari answered, propping himself up on one elbow, and running the other hand through his hair. "Well, solo and Max II, maybe. She keeps saying I'm "A Bad Driver, Ari" and "Completely Reckless on The Highway Batchelder," but I think she's overreacting." Omega pulled a slight face but nodded, pulling his arms out from under Max II's and letting her hit the ground again.

"What the fuck Omega!"

* * *

This is... Something. I love my kids, and that's who this is about so...


End file.
